You should even if it’s a pot of herbs in your window. I’ve been trying to grow gardens for about 10 years and each year it’s been a struggle.

This year we have been blessed with lots of rain so far in Monsoon 2022. It’s been so dry here we truly needed the rain (even if it’s all coming at once 😊).

​I’m sharing a video of our lower garden below to give you an ideas of how I’m doing things different this year. I added cardboard & bark and it has helped keep moisture in that growing area definitely a plus.

What’s cuter then momma and babies swimming in a puddle of rain water?

This is the first time the baby ducks played in a puddle but we have a small pool for them to play in as well.

​#monsoon2022

Do you have a favorite treat you remember eating as a kid?

Does it bring back memories when you eat it now?

These kolaches do for me. Granted they aren’t exactly like the ones I had as a kid but close enough.

We lots of things happening in the farm this year that we haven’t had before. Most of it is good but some is sad.

Here’s the good news- Bonnie our oldest duck was setting on eggs (for the very first time and she’s not a young duck) and hatched out 3 babies. I have a picture below. They are so cute and follow momma around everywhere. She hisses and let’s you know your too close so I think she’s doing great for a first time momma.

Now the sad news-this part has been hard for me and it has taken me over a week to share. The sad news is the 2 baby chicks one of our hens hatched out have died. I watched the momma hen sit on those eggs for almost a month and then they hatched out only to live about 4 days is heartbreaking to me. The momma seemed lost without them and was looking around for them for several days. We have had death occur over the years of having animals but this was different for me. RIP little baby chicks.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post I appreciate each and every one of you. ❤️

Nothing like the richness of making your broth.  In this case I made vegetable broth from my vegetable scraps bag I keep in the freezer.  When the bag gets full I pull it out of the freezer and put it in the Crockpot with some filtered water (not quite to the top of the Crockpot-it can boil over) and let it cook on high for about an hour then I turn it down to low and let it cook overnight.  As you can see in the pictures it turns a deep amber color and tastes delicious

This recipe makes almost 2 quarts of vegetable broth.  I used some in with our beef roast so I ended up with 1 quart jar and 1 pint jar.  Since I have other things from the first picture to preserve yet I may go ahead and pressure can the vegetable broth for later use.  

By making your own broth you can control what goes into it and your body. No salt is added to this recipe but dried herbs would make a great addition to the flavor.  

​Happy Cooking! 

​

Most of us know we need to fertilize our plants but honestly that was the extent on my knowledge. I’ve referred back to my notes again which I’m so glad I have even if I can’t read my own writing sometimes.

N-nitrogen helps with the leaf growth.

Here’s an example of too much nitrogen- my tomatoes were huge plants full of leaves but no fruits were growing.

P-Phosphorus helps the roots of the plants and flower & fruit development.

​K-Potassium helps to regulate the nutrients the plant gets.

​Calcium, Magnesium and other micro nutrients are required for healthy plant growth. For my own personal knowledge I’m going to do research more on micro nutrients because what feeds my plants also feeds me and my family too. A soil test will help you to determine what kind of fertilizer you will need in your soil for overall plants health & growth.

​blessings all

After going through my notes on Zone 7b which we live in I wanted to share what I learned because I didn’t know this information previously. There are a lot of new people moving into our area so I hope this will help some of you because growing here is definitely a challenge. We have 140 growing days in total unless of course you have a greenhouse. I’ll do more posts on staggered planting, square foot method and fertilizer another time.

blessings all

Here we are almost the middle of June 2022 and we still don't have all the beds planted yet but I've been working on that today. The upper garden beds 1, 2 & 3 are almost done. Bed 1 has sugar snap peas, Bed 2 has bush green beans and Bed 3 has corn, potatoes and sunflowers so far. There is about 8" x 4' section in bed 3 and bed 2 has about 2' x 2' section for more plants I just haven't decided what's going there yet. It will probably squash since I have several varieties started. Beds 4 & 5 still need to be planted as well. I’m so excited to see how things grow this year and I’ll share updates as the season progresses.

We are so happy Spring is here! Winter has been rough with all the crazy weather so we are definitely ready for warmer temperatures.

There are some green things starting to sprout up and that’s exciting to see. Spring is my favorite time of year. Lots of things will be happening on our little farm throughout Spring, Summer and Fall so stop back to see what is happening.

​Blessings all